‘A Thousand Words’ Trailer: Eddie Murphy Strikes Out Again

It’s been a rough week for Eddie Murphy, all things considered. First, the (former) comedic superstar’s latest film, Tower Heist, only managed a decent opening weekend gross at the U.S. box office. Then, Murphy called it quits as the 84th Oscars host, following the departure of (onetime) show producer Brett Ratner.

Now, there’s a trailer out for the long-delayed comedy, A Thousand Words – and, put bluntly, it makes the movie looks like yet another lackluster flick that features Murphy in the lead.

A Thousand Words is what one would call a “high-concept” movie, where the “concept” is as follows: Murphy plays a deceitful businessman who ends up being cursed so that he can only say (you guessed it) one thousand more words before he dies.

Cue scene after scene of Murphy mugging shamelessly as he tries to communicate with people while not speaking a single word… rather than, say, carrying around a mobile device (or, heck, even a good old-fashioned pen and paper pad) and claiming that he’s suffering from laryngitis or something along those lines.

Gaping plot holes like that are (of course) irrelevant in movies like this; what matters is whether or not the film is actually funny. So, does A Thousand Words look to deliver the comedy goods?

Decide what you think by watching the trailer for A Thousand Words below:

Most people would probably agree: just about every joke in this preview for A Thousand Words falls somewhat flat. Whether it’s Clark Duke (Kick-Ass) going with the overused “white guy tries to be hip” shtick, or Murphy desperately attempting to prevent a blind man from being killed while he crosses the street… this trailer makes it quite obvious why the film has been sitting on the shelf for over a year now.

If that’s not evidence enough, marinate on this for a moment: A Thousand Words was helmed by Brian Robbins (Good Burger, Norbit, Meet Dave) and scripted by Steve Koren (Bruce Almighty, Click, this week’s Jack and Jill). That resume doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence, to say the least…

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A Thousand Words is currently scheduled to hit U.S. theaters on March 23rd, 2012.